Handwalker From Plymouth Sets World Record, Inspires Kids

BOSTON (CBS) – Walking isn’t all that interesting. One foot in front of the other.

Well, the way Mark Kenny of Plymouth walks turns that idea on its head.

The way Mark walks is record-breaking.

“When I was a kid I always wanted to get in to the Guinness Book of World Records,” he told WBZ-TV.

So at age 11, Mark taught himself to walk on his hands.

He wanted to break the record for “Fastest Inverted 50-Yard Dash.”

For years he practiced. He says it became a great party trick in college. And then when he turned 29, he decided to finally go for the record. On a football field in Franklin he did it. His picture and name were in the 1995 edition of the Guinness book.

He even showed the picture to a girl he was dating at the time.

That “girl” told us: “Oh I didn’t know he was the one. I thought it was odd and here we are 20 years later. Still doing the trick!”

She became his wife. They had three kids and settled down in Plymouth.

Mark and Mary’s kids saw dad’s Guinness plaque and his pictures from around the globe as an international handwalking star. But they hadn’t seen him break a record. They weren’t alive.

Mark Kenny on the stairs at Patriot Place. (WBZ-TV)

Recently, Mark, who is now 49, had an idea while eating lunch next to a huge staircase at Patriot Place in Foxboro: he would try to set another Guinness record.

He would do it for his kids.

The training is tough, he told me, while walking upside down.

“I try to practice every day. 20-30 minutes a day. It’s a pretty good workout,” he said.

The practice was perfect.

On May 3rd, he raced down 77 steps in 30 seconds. A new Guinness record.

Follow David on Twitter
E-Mail David Wade
Multiple award-winning journalist David Wade co-anchors WBZ-TV News at 5PM, 6PM and 11PM with co-anchor Lisa Hughes, and Chief Meteorologist Eric Fisher.
Over the course of his distinguished broadca...